AISF 2010: An Dún vs Cill Dara

[trileacman]

I think this is being unfair on mc enaney. A square ball is a umpire's call not a ref 30 yards away. Mc Enaney had his own umpires for the game but cooney thought it better to replace them with IC referees who made a right balls of 3 decisions. What was mc enaney to do? he went down to the umpires after the goal to allow them to reconsider their call. They didn't.

If he'd have given the penalty sure the down men would have been on here complaining that a down man was pushed on to the ball and it should have been a free out. He gave the hop ball which few people were complaining about at the time. It was a ruck of players over a ball that was going to be playable. A hop ball is standard practice in such circumstances.

[Bogball XV]

I think Down should offer a replay.

If Meath had offered one they could be in the final now

surely they'd have played off the replayed leinster final before the all ireland series went any further?

[omagh_gael]

It would have been interesting to have seen what McEnaney would have done if it had of been his own umpires as opposed to referees on the posts. He clearly thought there was doubt surrounding the validity of the goal as he went in to ask their opinion. Would his opinion on over ruling the umpires decision been affected by the fact that they were qualified referees (although totally incompetent!) instead of his own crew?

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

My dad also felt angry towards that **** McEnaney as he felt the goal turned the game for Down.

No call for that sort of comment at all.

[red hander]

If Down win the final, which they should on current form, Mickey Harte will be staying on until we win 7 All-Irelands. An Dún abú! 

So he will be retiring around 2030 or something judging on past form?

That would be about right, and Armagh will still only have one

[INDIANA]

It would have been interesting to have seen what McEnaney would have done if it had of been his own umpires as opposed to referees on the posts. He clearly thought there was doubt surrounding the validity of the goal as he went in to ask their opinion. Would his opinion on over ruling the umpires decision been affected by the fact that they were qualified referees (although totally incompetent!) instead of his own crew?

In the end he gave a goal which he knew was a from a square ball but he was compromised by one of the umpires diving for the green flag, like the penalty at the end he didn't do the right thing and changed the game.  In the same way he allowed Down players to continually foul in the midfield on every kickout.

thought o callaghan took a lot of steps for his goal. I'd also question the validity of that one. Overall not sure kildare played well enough. Great team spirit and some fine footballers but they just lack that ten percent extra for me
John Doyle should be on the inside line_still their marquee forward
Down are a better team then I thought

[Louth Exile]

Down were the better team on the day but the game did show that the title of best ref in Ireland no longer resides with McEneaney.

Every time Marty Clarke was touched he got a free.  Pat McEneaney gave a goal that should have been disallowed, kept himself right by appearing to consult with the umpires and bottled out of a penalty in the final minutes which would have been a game changer.  Martin Sludden was berated by all and sundry for one mistaken goal, not one of them will speak against Pat McEneaney.

I'll speak out against him! For years I thought he was a whole class apart from the mediocrity of the refereeing in our game! I don't feel there was any malice in his actions, but he had his worst day at the office since 96 and Kildare were the ones with the sore arses afterwards. The simple fact of how good a referee he has been, for me brings the standard of refereeing to an all new low! His legacy is tarnished (before the Mayo lads pipe up, I already acknowledged that he fucked up in 96). Is this his last year? Was that his last IC game? If so an awful way to go out, or signs that he was starting to lose it?

Fair play to Coulter for his comments after and having the gumption to admit that he was in the square, some other idiots who have been in a similar position haven't had the same class!

[balladmaker]

Agree with the overall summary that Down just about edged it, however, with the proviso that they were going nowhere fast without that goal from Coulter, not to mention Kildare's "unofficial" point.

Down's high energy, explosive running on the ball will leave most teams for dead, and will cause Cork a fair deal of trouble in the final.

Down always have to be ahead as they are questionable when chasing from a few points down, but thanks to a little luck today they just about edged a fantastic game.

As for the final build up, get ready for the usual media rhetoric....never beaten in an All Ireland final......it will mean nothing on September 19th!

[mylestheslasher]

Coulter seems a genuine guy, his eyes were on the ball and I doubt he even knew he was in the square for sure till he saw a replay. Kildares goal had way to many steps too so it ended up even imo. Best team won in the end, well done down.

[mckieran]

That was some last shot by Kelly, it looked as if it was going in.

That would have been the best goal ever if that went in. There were 12/13/14 players between and the goal.

[Shrewdness]

Congratulations to Down on their victory today, but you have to feel that Kildare got some rough justice from the officials.
I don't want to take anything away from Down who i felt were the better team over the 70 minutes.
But we can't deny the fact that once again in a major match in Croke Park, the incompetence of umpires has had a crucial bearing on the result.

The disallowed point and illegitimate goal were a 4 point swing against Kildare, and tonight, that must be very hard for them to swallow.

Can anyone tell me, since when does it make sense for a Monaghan referee to be appointed to referee an All Ireland Semi involving Down or any other Ulster County?
Surely a referee from Munster or Connacht was the obvious choice, even if it had to be Marty Duffy.

After the Louth debacle, and now today's incompetence, the sacrifice and hard work put in by inter county panels can be wiped out in a flash by incompetent referees, linesmen and in particular umpires.....It's not good enough.

Well done again to Down, and imo, they have a great chance in the final. 

[cokers]

Down love Croke Park. I am gonna have a few notes on them minus 2 points and Benny for first goal scorer at 6/1. Looking forward to a cracking match

Hope you followed up on this sammy. what a shout!

[ross4life]

Even though it was a square ball does anybody else feel that the kildare Keeper Shane McCormack could have done better on the high ball?

[mckieran]

A lot of players believe the square ball rule to be a shit rule and abolished. And I agree.

This is a perfect example; I do not see why that goal should not have stood - Why have the square ball rule at all? I really do think that goals of this kind should stand.

Also, the ref gave Kildare plenty of "iffy" decisions today; They just werent as critical as the decisions that went Downs way. Kildare must be the biggest crowd of whingers in the country - If there was an AI series in whining, ye would win that hands down!

[lawnseed]

i totally disgusted at the outcome of what should have been a great game, the footy was poor at best from both teams, but the notion that slasher is the best ref around is dead and buried he simply stinks. yet again the outcome of a crucial match has been decided by gombeans in white coats how slasher threw up the ball in front of the down goals is a mystery to me when a down player can be seen clearly laying on top of the ball and touching it on the ground. it was a penalty no doubt. neither of these teams are good enough to be all ireland champs cork are the pick of a bad championship.